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Credit Suisse Securities (USA), a unit of Credit Suisse AG, and a former investment adviser have agreed to pay about US$8 million in fines to settle charges relating to improper investments, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said.

PHOTO: REUTERS

[BENGALURU] Credit Suisse Securities (USA), a unit of Credit Suisse AG, and a former investment adviser have agreed to pay about US$8 million in fines to settle charges relating to improper investments, the US Securities and Exchange Commission said.

According to the SEC's orders issued on Tuesday, Credit Suisse collected about US$3.2 million in avoidable fees from clients during 2009-2014, and about US$2.5 million of that amount was generated from Sanford Katz's advisory clients.

Without admitting or denying the SEC's findings, Credit Suisse and Katz will collectively pay disgorgement of about US$3.2 million, some US$600,000 in prejudgment interest, and penalties totaling around US$4.1 million.

Katz, who was a former managing director and relationship manager at the bank's San Francisco office, purchased or held Class A mutual fund shares for advisory clients who were eligible to purchase or hold less expensive institutional share classes of the same mutual funds, the SEC said.

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In January, Credit Suisse formally agreed to pay US$5.3 billion to settle with US authorities over claims it misled investors in residential mortgage-backed securities it sold in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Last year, Calvert Investments agreed to settle a civil case with the SEC after being accused of mispricing bonds and collecting inflated fees.